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Multicenter Study
. 2023 Mar;30(3):567-577.
doi: 10.1111/ene.15660. Epub 2022 Dec 28.

Physical activity and brain health in patients with atrial fibrillation

Elena Herber  1   2 , Stefanie Aeschbacher  1   2 , Michael Coslovsky  1   2   3 , Fabian Schwendinger  4 , Elisa Hennings  1   2 , Andreas Gasser  1 , Marcello Di Valentino  5 , Elia Rigamonti  6 , Tobias Reichlin  7 , Nicolas Rodondi  8   9 , Seraina Netzer  8   9 , Juerg H Beer  10 , Annina Stauber  11 , Andreas Müller  11 , Peter Ammann  12 , Tim Sinnecker  13 , Marco Duering  13 , Jens Wuerfel  13   14 , David Conen  15 , Michael Kühne  1   2 , Stefan Osswald  1   2 , Leo H Bonati  16   17 ; SWISS-AF Investigators
Collaborators, Affiliations
Free article
Multicenter Study

Physical activity and brain health in patients with atrial fibrillation

Elena Herber et al. Eur J Neurol. 2023 Mar.
Free article

Abstract

Background and purpose: Vascular brain lesions, such as ischemic infarcts, are common among patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and are associated with impaired cognitive function. The role of physical activity (PA) in the prevalence of brain lesions and cognition in AF has not been investigated.

Methods: Patients from the multicenter Swiss-AF cohort study were included in this cross-sectional analysis. We assessed regular exercise (RE; at least once weekly) and minutes of weekly PA using a validated questionnaire. We studied associations with ischemic infarcts, white matter hyperintensities, cerebral microbleeds, and brain volume on brain magnetic resonance imaging and with global cognition measured with a cognitive construct (CoCo) score.

Results: Among 1490 participants (mean age = 72 ± 9 years), 730 (49%) engaged in RE. In adjusted regression analyses, RE was associated with a lower prevalence of ischemic infarcts (odds ratio [OR] = 0.78, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.63-0.98, p = 0.03) and of moderate to severe white matter hyperintensities (OR = 0.78, 95% CI = 0.62-0.99, p = 0.04), higher brain volume (β-coefficient = 10.73, 95% CI = 2.37-19.09, p = 0.01), and higher CoCo score (β-coefficient = 0.08, 95% CI = 0.03-0.12, p < 0.001). Increasing weekly PA was associated with higher brain volume (β-coefficient = 1.40, 95% CI = 0.65-2.15, p < 0.001).

Conclusions: In AF patients, RE was associated with a lower prevalence of ischemic infarcts and of moderate to severe white matter disease, with larger brain volume, and with better cognitive performance. Prospective studies are needed to investigate whether these associations are causal. Until then, our findings suggest that patients with AF should be encouraged to remain physically active.

Keywords: atrial fibrillation; cerebral infarction; cerebral microbleeds; cognitive disorders and dementia; neurocognitive function; physical activity; total brain volume; white matter disease.

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References

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